New York provided its budget proposal ahead of Sunday's deadline, but while the Senate included sports betting and internet poker in its version, the Assembly and Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the.

A New York State Senate Committee has re-approved an online poker regulatory bill for the third time in as many years, opening up another legislative battle over online poker’s possible future in the Empire State. Tuesday’s passage of Senate Bill 3898 from the NY Senate’s Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering echoed the wide margins the same bill enjoyed in 2017, when it marched through the state’s Senate but failed to be called for a vote in the Assembly.

S3898’s passage came by a 10-1 margin, actually down a tick from 2017’s unanimous committee approval. This iteration’s single nay vote came from State Sen. James Sanders, Jr., a Democrat who represents part of the New York City borough of Queens. Primary bill sponsor John Bonacic was among those voting in favor in Tuesday’s committee vote.

The reasons for Sen. Sanders’ switch from a yea to a nay went unreported, though it matters not to S3898’s future track. The bill was immediately referred to the NY Senate’s Committee on Finance, a mandatory stop on the way to a full Senate vote. Last year’s iteration of S3898 spent three months in the Finance committee before clearing it on a 28-9 vote. It then moved on to the Senate floor, where it passed by a 53-9 count.

The 2018 path for S3898 appears every bit as rosy, but as we’ve noted early, it’s the parallel Assembly path that poses the largest roadblock in New York. In each of the past two years, NY Assemblyman Gary Pretlow has voiced long support for an online-poker bill, but has found reasons to never bring up what appears to be a popular bipartisan measure for any sort of Assembly vote.

Pretlow’s dragged up several straw men to assume blame for the demise of his Assembly online-poker bill, and he’s already laying out the case for more straw men to take the blame in 2018. Or, in this case, women. Pretlow, who was recently interviewed by Matthew Kredell over at OPR, blamed women for last year’s technical defeat of his bill, A5250.

“It seems women are opposed to gambling or gaming, and it got a little heated,” Pretlow told OPR. “There’s opposition to the legislation by a lot of female members of the Assembly, and the Speaker decided we should wait to get it straightened out. But now I know which ones to deal with and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to redouble my efforts, as the expression goes.”

One might call that a too-broad generalization by Pretlow, pun nauseatingly and specifically intended. While there has always been a gender-based skew inherent in the support for any form of gambling, Pretlow’s comment is just plain stupid, and it calls into question his motivations. Market research has generally shown that women are 10-15% less likely on average, to favor or participate in gambling activities, and that likely has its basis in societal and sociological roles. But saying that “women are opposed to gambling” is dumbly erroneous on its face.

Last year, Bonacic’s Senate version passed its full Senate vote with roughly the same percentages of female Senators as male Senators casting “yea” votes. Given that Pretlow’s bill has never been called for a vote, one can’t say for sure what the gender split might be. Yet Pretlow’s straw-woman disclaimers beg for a dose of reality: For the 2017-2018 session, only 34 of the Assembly’s 150 seats are held by women. That’s less than 23%, which is itself below the national average.

Whatever the reasons might be for Pretlow’s online-poker bills failing in recent years, “women are opposed to gambling” isn’t the primary issue. It might be a contributing factor amid concerns over problem gambling and a potential societal impact — concerns that can be addressed by a bill sponsor who’s doing his job.

The sadder news, though, is that New York’s online-poker future might hinge upon Pretlow’s negotiating skills. And this week’s quote, just like previous years’ failures, give strength to the notion that he’s just not up to the task.

COMMENTS

Leave a Comment

LATEST NEWS

filter by

Dan Katz

It Could Maybe Happen: 25-Cent Pokerstars Spin & Go’s Have a $1 Million Jackpot Chance This Weekend

The great advantage to being a micro- to low-stakes online poker player, as I was when I was able to regularly play...

Haley Hintze

Shannon Soroka Gets 13-Year Sentence for Darren Elias Home Evasion

A New Jersey judge has handed down a 13-year prison sentence to Shannon M. Soroka, the man arrested following the armed...

Haley Hintze

Adelson’s CSIG Reissues Nonsense in Latest Wire Act Amicus Brief

Sheldon Adelson’s astroturf lobbying entity, the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG), has spurted back to...

Dan Katz

GTA Online Diamond Casino: A New Player’s Walkthrough

With the release of the GTA Online Diamond Casino Heist a couple weeks ago, I figured now would be as good a time as...

Dan Katz

A Brief Look at Some 2019 Players of the Year

These last couple weeks of the year are always among the slowest in poker and thus difficult for someone whose task it...

Dan Katz

Don’t Trust the Dallas Cowboys With Your Betting Dollars

As someone who is knowledgeable about sports yet is terrible at betting on them, I am always fascinated by people who...

TOP POKER SITES

• PokerStars
• $600

• 888 Poker
• $400

• William Hill
• £1,200

• Betsafe Poker
• $1,000

• Bet-at-Home
• €1,500

• Guts Poker
• $/€/£300

view all

POKER IN YOUR COUNTRY

• US POKER SITES
• CANADIAN POKER SITES
• UK POKER SITES
• EUROPEAN POKER SITES
• SOUTH AFRICAN POKER SITES

Nys Online Poker News

DEVICE COMPATIBILITY

Online Poker Legislation In New York

Mobile Poker Sites

Linux Poker

Android Poker Sites

Mac Poker

GUIDES

Deposit Methods

Poker Networks

SPORTS BETTING GUIDE

Online poker legislation in New York has progressed past a Senate Committee.

Online poker is back on the table in New York after legislation has been revived in the state. Lawmakers are currently reviewing a bill that will allow for poker to be played online in the state, with the measure having been approved within the Senate Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee this week.

S 3898 Moves Forward

Online poker players in New York have been hopeful for some time that their state would join in with neighbors New Jersey and Pennsylvania in offering the gaming option. S 3898 has been the closest legislation with potential to bring the activity to the state and now that it has already progressed, proponents are even more hopeful.

The bill was originally introduced by Senator John Bonacic in January 2017 but was unable to move forward. The bill was passed through the Senate last year, but the Assembly did nothing with it, so the measure died. The bill will now have to receive approval from the Senate yet again before it can be sent to the Assembly for a vote.

The bill did gain momentum in 2017 and it is believed that this year it will be able to move forward at a faster pace. For now, it seems the actual passage of the bill will mainly be determined in the Assembly. The Senate is still in approval so if the bill makes it further, the Assembly will have to approve it for any chance of the bill becoming law.

The Assembly did have their own poker bill in 2017 but it was not able to move forward much either. Assemblyman Gary Pretlow led the charge and plans on doing so again by February of this year. With the positive vote in the Senate this week, the bill will now be sent to the Finance Committee. The bill has to be passed there in order to go to a full Senate vote.

What the Bill Includes

S 3898 includes language the defines online poker as a game of skill. The classification was created in this manner due to the state constitution prohibiting any form of gambling expansion. Any expansion in the gaming industry must be done via amendment.

If the bill is passed into law, operators would be able to apply for a gaming license and offer poker games to consumers located in the state. In total, eleven licenses would be up for grabs. Operators will be required to use geolocation technology in order to determine that players are located within the borders of New York.

Operators who are given licensing will have to pay a $10 million licensing fee to get started. The money will go straight to the coffers of the state. Taxes are set at 15% on revenues earned from online gaming. In 2017, the Senate added a bad actor clause to the bill, hoping that the change would persuade the Assembly members to approve the measure. The provision does not allow those who operated before UIGEA, such as PokerStars, from taking part.

PokerStars would of course want to operate in New York if able, but with this provision, they would not be allowed to do so. PokerStars is one of a handful of poker rooms that operated after UIGEA was enforced and was shut down later on due to remaining open. If the clause were to be removed, the online poker room would be able to offer services in the region.